The Opium Poppy
by Jojo Smith
Summary: Jamie grew up in the New York slums. If she had learned anything at all, it was: When you need something take it, because no one is going to hand it to you. I accept Flames.
1. Jack

Summary

I grew up with an alcoholic mother and my father left when I was four months old. So really, it isn't that surprising I turned out this way. I mean what kind of child has a happy family these days? My best friend JoceLyn was the best thing I ever had in my whole life. She was probably the only real family member I had, which is kind of sad seeing as she wasn't even partially related to me. My whole life has been hell, living in the New York City slums. I was poor my whole life and when I was ten I finally realized something; if you need something you take it because no one is going to hand it to you.

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Chapter one

The wind whistled through the dark trees, rustling the leaves and causing one leaf to fall. As it cascaded toward the ground the wind picked up and the leaf landed in front of a pair of black high top Converse. A small pale hand reached down to pick the leaf up, belonging to tiny girl of fifteen.

"Lyn." she whispered. "Now." And with that she let the leaf fall back to the ground.

A shadow sped past the girl and ran at the doors of a jewelry store, a streak of silver in one hand. The shadow stopped at the doors and slid the knife down the crack between the doors. The shadow turned around to face the girl after hearing a click, revealing the dirty face of Lyn, another girl of fifteen with light pink hair and brown eyes.

"Your turn Jay." She called out with a smirk.

Jay smiled back, the wind whipping her navy blue hair into her onyx eyes. She walked to the doors, stuck a small black box on one of them and walked back five feet, pulling back her black sleeve and revealing a red box with a button on it. She shared a smirk with Lyn and brought her finger down on the button. At the same time a high pitched buzzing started up and the red lights of the cameras in the store shut off.

"Score." She murmured.

Jay and Lyn slipped inside slowly, as if testing to make sure what they had done worked. When no security alarm went off they both relaxed and Jay pulled a medium sack from the pocket of her baggy black sweat pants. They went separate ways, looking through the jewelry for something in particular. They looked for five minutes before one of them finally saw it.

"Found it!" Lyn cried, no longer trying to lower her voice.

Jay ran over to her, pulled off her fingerless gloves, and reached up her left sleeve for her dagger sheath. She grabbed the hilt of the skinny dagger, pulled it out and stuck it in the lock of the glass case. Her dagger met a wall but she kept shoving it in and when it stabbed through the wall a click was heard. She yanked her dagger out and inspected it for scratches. Finding none she stuck it back in the sheath and pulled her sleeve back down to cover the strange markings on her arm. Lyn took over and gently pulled the glass door off of the case. She reached into the case and pulled out a diamond and ruby necklace with a golden chain. She lovingly cradled it in her arms before slipping it into the sack Jay held open.

They rested the door over the hole in the case and stood up slowly, excitement welling in their bones. They hurried back out the door, latching it and stopping to shut the door completely. Jay pushed a button on the black box and it fell off into her hand, the buzzing stopping completely. They walked down the street and turned into an alley. Jay leaned against the alley wall and looked up at the dark sky.

"We did it." Jay said shortly.

"Yeah." Lyn agreed a big smile covering most of her face.

Jay glanced around to make sure they were alone and spoke to Lyn in a low whisper. "We've got to get that to Tony tonight, before people see it's missing. We'll have to-"

Loud yelling cut her off, it was coming from down the alley. Jay slipped the sack into her pocket and made sure no of it was showing. The yelling was getting closer to them and Lyn slipped into a defensive crouch as Jay did the same. The yelling was soon distinguishable.

"Jack you owe me!! I paid all the money you asked for!"

"I don't owe you nothing! You didn't even pay half the money!" Jay and Lyn shared a look.

"Give it to me!"

"Boy if you don't leave I'll shoot your damn brains out." The man growled.

A boy of about 14 stomped by them and out the entrance of the alley, a look of pure hatred on his face. The girls kept their eyes on the man in his late twenties who finally seemed to notice them. He ran a hand through his bright red hair and sighed loudly.

"What do you want?" he asked tiredly.

"Jack, I thought you'd be glad to see us." Jay mocked.

"I'm never happy to see you two." Jack replied just as mockingly as Jay.

"Who was that kid?" Lyn asked curiously.

"Oh him? He's one of my new customers."

"Cheating little children are we Jack? I expected better than that from you." Jay smirked.

"No you didn't. Now, what do you two want? I don't have all night."

"Will you sell to us?" Lyn asked sharply.

"Sure," Jack shrugged, "but you two don't seem like the type to go for dope."

"Oh no Jack, we won't be doing it, but we also won't be paying." Jay said smoothly as she whipped out her blade and pressed it to Jacks' neck. Jack eyed Jay and gulped seeing the deadly look in her eye.

"Now girls, l-l-let's be reasonable, I can't just go around giving it out to e-e-everyone." He stuttered nervously.

"You'll be paid moron," Said Jay pulling the knife away from his neck but leaving it in her hand, "what do you think is in this bag?"

She pulled the sack out of her pocket, ignoring the warning look from Lyn. She stuck her hand in the bag and drew out the necklace. Jack looked at it with wide eyes.

"You give us some powdered dope as close to pure as you can get and you get this necklace." Jack tried to say no but Jay could see the defeat in his eyes.

"Fine." He sighed.

Jay tossed the necklace to him, and it slipped past his fingers, almost slamming into the pavement before Jay's hand shot out and grabbed it an inch from the ground. She roughly shoved the valuable piece of jewelry back into his hands and turned to Lyn, nodding her head at her. They started walking out of the alley but Jay slowed and looked back at Jack who was holding the necklace like Lyn had done earlier.

"Jack." She called, getting his attention. "Trade it to Tony tonight before people notice it's gone." And with that she and Lyn walked out of the alley and into the night.

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A/N- Hey guys this story is totally mine. I own the plot and the characters so if you want to do anything with it you have to get permission or I can sue the pants off you. Anyway, hope you like it. Please read and review.


	2. Purple hair

Hey you guys, I know your reading, I got a lot of hits but no reviews… Please review!!!!!!!!!!!

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Chapter 2

_Ring!_

_Ring!_

_Ring!_

A tiny arm shot out of a lump of covers, hand formed into a fist, and brought the fist down on the machine causing the racket. The ringing immediately stopped, leaving silence aside from the occasional car alarm. The lump groaned and removed the covers from its eyes to glance at the offending alarm clock. The navy blue hair of Jay spilled over the bed sheets as she sat up. She stretched her boney arms out and yawned, reaching to the sky as if trying to grasp something. She hung her thin legs over the side of the bed and slid down to the floor, grimacing as her feet came in contact with the cold ground. She hurried over to the closet and rummaged around, quickly finding a yellow t-shirt and gray sweatpants. She practically ran to the door and yanked open, only to run into her mother.

"Hey mum." She said as she tried to slip past the woman in the doorway.

"Your late." Her mother said flatly.

"Sorry mum, won't happen again I swear." Jay said, still trying to slip past.

"You're right, it won't happen again Jamie. If it does I will not be so understanding." Her mother replied. The threat in her voice was easy to hear.

"Yea mum, I got it." Jay finally made it past the door and into the bathroom, where she pulled a brush through her hair a couple times, washed her face and brushed her teeth. She rushed to the kitchen where her mother was putting bread in the toaster, her bright green hair up in a ponytail. Jay scrambled to find her pack and finally found it behind the table and under a chair. The toaster went off startling her and she jumped, whirling around to face her mother. She handed Jay a slice of toast and monotonously told her to have a good day. Jay slung the pack onto her shoulder and hurried out the door of their apartment, running and stumbling down the stairs. When she reached the bottom of the stairs she almost ran head long into a familiar pink haired girl.

"Lyn!" Jay cried, "Are you ready to go?"

"Yup, let's go Jay."

They headed out the doors into the warm April air, walking down the street toward a bus stop. Jay plopped down on the bench dramatically and Lyn carefully sat down next to her.

"Jay, what are we gonna do about what happened last ni-"

Jay hushed her quickly and looked around, telling her they would talk about it later. As they waited for the bus to come Jay checked her old beat up watch at regular intervals. Finally, after seventeen minutes and fifty-eight seconds, the bus pulled up to the stop. Jay and Lyn quickly rushed onto the bus and took their usual seats in the back. Lyn yanked out her iPod and stuck it on shuffle, sinking back into the hard bus seat. Jay tapped out a beat on the seat in front of her as worn down apartments passed by the window. Finally they reached a stop allowing Jay and Lyn to get out and hop down onto the curb. They looked around at the familiar surroundings, taking in the broken down buildings, their eyes finally coming to rest on a corner store. Jay sighed and started walking toward it, Lyn following in her steps. They finally got to the front step and Jay reached into her pocket, pulling out a key. The door unlocked roughly; it was worn from years of use. Jay crept around to the back and found the switch. The room flooded with bright light that illuminated shelves of snacks and drinks. Jay went and stood behind the cash register as Lyn flipped the 'closed' sign to 'open'. Lyn walked around and finally found a shelf of toy bouncy balls. She grabbed one and tossed it to Jay who caught it with a mischievous smile. They sat throwing the ball back and forth until finally the bell over the door jingled.

"No playing with the merchandise!" Came the rough bark.

Jay glanced up at the clock, which read 8:05, and smiled at the balding blonde man. "Ahh, Joey, you're late."

Joey just let out a low grunt and headed toward the back room to check and organize the supplies. Jay smiled at Lyn and they continued to throw the ball back and forth. The bell rang again, this time signaling a customer had come. Jay, who now held the bouncy ball, quickly stuffed it in her pants pocket and stood to greet the costumer. The customer was a nervous looking man of about 25 who had bright purple hair.

"Feel free to look around." Drawled Lyn from the floor where she sat.

Jay smiled and went to stand behind the counter as the man nodded at Lyn and went to look around the store. Jay, in all her years of life, had never seen anyone with her shade of navy blue hair. And in a world where people's hair came in all different colors, that was highly unusual. She rested her head against the palm, thinking of what she would do when Jack gave her the 'stuff'. She was brought out of the thought by the purple haired man who waved his hand in front of her with a set look on his face. Jay frowned but without complaint rang up the man's orders. She glanced down at the man's pocket for some reason and what she saw there made her eyes flash. She knew why the man hand looked so nervous, why he looked so ready. As she was packing up the order in a bag she saw the man reach into the pocket and knew what was coming, so she wasn't at all surprised when she heard the click from the mans direction as he cocked the gun and pointed it at her head.

"Honestly." Jay whispered.

"Give me the money!" shouted the man.

"You know, that's very rude. Shouldn't you introduce yourself first?" Jay asked sarcastically.

"You know Jay," interjected Lyn. "I really don't think this is the time."

"No one asked you." retorted Jay.

The man, who had been watching the conversation, began growing impatient and cut in. "Would you two shut up?!" He kept his eyes on Jay and his voice was oddly calm. "I would suggest you give me the money before I lodge this bullet in your brain."

"I don't think you could." Smirked Jay. Lyn smacked her hand to her forehead in exasperation.

"Try me." Growled the man.

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A/N- 0_o Ooooohhh... REVIEW AND I'LL UPDATE QUICKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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